At old Koonalda Homestead after 100 km on the Old Eyre Highway.  These the were the last people who used this very rough, un-maintained track.

Local wildlife hanging around the campsite, looking for breakfast.

Koonalda cave.  Ted, come back, I need you to find the way back to the highway.

Enjoying our new fire bucket with fellow travellers.

Sunrise at Pildappa Rock, near Minnipa

From Ceduna we drove 300 km west to the Nullarbor Roadhouse, fuelled up then left the highway for a 100 km slow drive along the Old Eyre Highway. This track has not been maintained since the new highway was built 30 years ago and now it is a rough limestone track. We were restricted to 30-40 kph for quite long stretches so the 100 km took us 2.5 hours. We spent the night at the old Koonalda Homestead, also un-used since the 1980’s. The station owners sold petrol and ran a workshop; dozens of old car bodies reminded us of how difficult the trip would have been then. 3 other couples were there and we enjoyed an evening around the campfire.

Our destination next was to have been the Eyre Bird Observatory, on the coast about 35 km south of Cocklebiddy. A sign about 20 km along a very rough, narrow track told us that we couldn’t camp there so we went back to a spot near the highway and set up to camp for the night. We had flat batteries in the caravan – so we connected the caravan again and drove to Cocklebiddy where we hooked up to their power for the night.

After continuing across the Nullarbor with recharged batteries our next destination was to be Dundas Rocks, the site of a long disappeared township about 25 km south of Norseman. This area is heavily wooded with mallee scrub and is very attractive. We picked a nice campsite and discovered that again we had flat batteries. With headlamps and gas operated bbq, stove, heater and fridge we could survive overnight with flat batteries but the problem needed to fixed soon so we drove a little further to Salmon Gums and hooked up to power again. The caretaker of the small caravan park lit a good fire and we socialised for a couple of hours.

A little over an hour’s drive on Friday brought us to Esperance where an auto-electrician replaced a fuse and what could have cost $800 for new batteries only cost $50. Esperance is a nice town that started life as a whaling, sealing and fishing port, later becoming a grain and wool port and now is mainly an iron ore port. The huge bay is sheltered by an archipelago of over 100 islands. We spent Anzac Day at Esperance, did a bit of shopping and fuelled up, ready to head for the National Parks east of here; Cape Le Grands, Duke of Orleans and Cape Arid. We intend bush camping for about a week.

Love to all, from Ted and Jo

A little over an hour’s drive on Friday brought us to Esperance where an auto-electrician replaced a fuse and what could have cost $800 for new batteries only cost $50. Esperance is a nice town that started life as a whaling, sealing and fishing port, later becoming a grain and wool port and now is mainly an iron ore port. The huge bay is sheltered by an archipelago of over 100 islands. We spent Anzac Day at Esperance, did a bit of shopping and fuelled up, ready to head for the National Parks east of here; Cape Le Grands, Duke of Orleans and Cape Arid. We intend bush camping for about a week.

Love to all, from Ted and Jo2015

We left Adelaide on 17 April, a dreary, misty day all the way to Port Augusta. Then we realised that we were lucky – 50 ml of rain had fallen in the previous 24 hours in Port Augusta and 112 ml in Quorn, just 30 km away. Roads were cut and travellers stranded. Even luckier, only 12 ml had fallen to the west where we were heading.

Next day we drove to Iron Knob then left the highway and drove another 125 km on dirt roads into the Gawler Ranges. Typical outback scenery with grey/green trees and bushes, spinifex grass, red sandy soil and rocky hills. Spent the night at Mt Ive station; 9,000 sheep over 100 sq. km of rocky hills and sandy flats, reaching to Lake Gairdner in the north. Lake Gairdner is a huge salt lake, 150 km from north to south and 50 km wide – amazing!

We drove through the Gawler Range National Park and spent a night at Pildappa Rock, near Minnipa. This is a striking rock feature with great views north to the Gawler Ranges. The Rock looks fabulous late in the afternoon and early in the morning. We enjoyed happy hour with fellow travelers around our new fire bucket (thanks Pat and Tony for the inspiration).

We are now in Ceduna stocking up for a four-day trip across the Nullarbor; we could do it faster but we are not in a hurry.

Love to all

Ted and Jo

Hi to friends and rellies.  We are leaving tomorrow 17 April on our caravan trip to southern and south-western Western Australia look forward to sharing stories and photos with you.